Infighting in Congress extends to Uttar Pradesh

Looks like the troubles for Congress aren’t going to end anytime soon. The infighting within the Congress party, which has given major setbacks as of now in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana etc. has now extended its presence in the hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh.

In Bundelkhand, Ranjeet Singh Judeo, an influential Congress leader from Samthar region, is miffed with the possibility of ex Minister Pradeep Jain Aditya being roped in for the upcoming polls. For those unaware, Ranjeet Singh Judeo is the state vice president of the Congress party.

Pradeep Jain Aditya, on the other hand, is a Congress leader, who commands respect in the region of Jhansi. He had opened avenues for Congress in the Bundelkhand region by winning a seat for himself in the 2009 elections. He was awarded for the same by being appointed as the Minister of State for Rural Development. It is another matter that he lost the seat, as well as his own deposit in the 2014 elections.

Ranjeet Singh is one of the most senior leaders of Congress in Uttar Pradesh. According to the media reports, he feels threatened by the aura around Pradeep. He recommended other candidates in his place, which according to the supporters of Pradeep Jain, are nowhere in terms of ground level campaigning.

Following no response from the party command, the Jhansi Congress members have indulged into infighting. Ranjeet Singh has warned of dire consequences if his demands are not met soon. This is clearly not good news for the party, which is yet to come to terms with the facts that some of their most trustworthy members have now started defecting to rival parties, especially in the states of UP and Maharashtra.

This also spells doom for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was expected to revive the sagging spirits of the party members with her much publicized debut in national politics. Hardly had she addressed her first political rally in Gujarat, when news of sitting MLAs defecting to BJP in Gujarat broke out and spread like wildfire.

To make matters worse, Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of the current Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly also joined BJP. It would now be interesting to see as to how Congress sustains itself in the face of such setbacks and unite in time before the Lok Sabha polls officially kick starts from 11 April 2019.